NC State
Boston University
Pack Returns to PNC Arena to Host Boston University
12/2/2016 3:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NC State has played four of its last five games away from PNC Arena
Saturday marks the Coca-Cola Toys for Tots game at PNC Arena. Doors will open 90 minutes prior to the contest at 3 p.m. Fans are encouraged to bring bring an unwrapped toy valued at $5 to the game and drop it off at one of the many donation stations located at the entrances of PNC Arena. Each person who donates a toy will receive a voucher good for two (2) tickets to an NC State home gymnastics, wrestling, or women's basketball event (excluding Play4Kay and postseason events).Â
The game will be shown on Regional Sports Networks with Tom Werme (play-by-play) and Mike Gminski (analyst) on the call. The following stations will televise the game: Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Carolinas, Fox Sports Sun, Fox Sports Midwest Plus/Fox Sports Indiana Plus, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, NESN, Root Sports Pittsburgh, SportsTime Ohio, Fox Sports North Plus, Fox Sports Southwest - OK, Fox Sports San Diego (delayed broadcast until 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT),Root Sports Rocky Mountain and Root Sports Northwest
Fans can also listen to the game on the Wolfpack Sports Network with Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes calling the action.
Pack Tracks
- NC State dropped its ACC-Big Ten Challenge game at Illinois on Tuesday night, 88-74, to fall to 5-2 on the season. Torin Dorn led the Pack with 17 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
- The Pack is one of two teams in the ACC to have two players ranked in the top-10 in field goal percentage. Dorn ranks third in the ACC at 64%, while Abdul-Malik Abu is seventh at 57.4%. At 50.5 percent shooting as a team, the Pack ranks 2nd in the ACC in field goal percentage.
- NC State is one of two teams in the ACC to have four players ranked in the top-25 in the league in scoring. The Pack has Dennis Smith, Jr., Dorn, Terry Henderson and Abu all averaging 14.1 all ranked in the top-25 in scoring.
-Â NC State has relied heavily on Henderson, Smith and Dorn this season. The trio ranks 4th-5th-and-6th respectively on the ACC's minutes player per game list. The Pack is the only ACC team to have three players in the top-10 in minutes played. The trio combines to play 105.4 minutes per game.
- Despite the departure of Cat Barber, the leading scorer in the ACC last season, and returning just 45.4% of its scoring, 65.5% of its rebounding and 29.8% of its assists, the Wolfpack was selected 6th in the preseason ACC media poll.
Saturday Need to Know                                    Â
This is the Wolfpack's first of six non-conference home games in the month of December ... NC State has played four of its last five games away from PNC Arena ... The Pack does not play another road game until Dec. 31 when it opens ACC play at Miami ... NC State is 3-0 at home this season ... Boston University was picked second in the Patriot League preseason poll after going 19-15 and earning fifth postseason appearance in eight seasons last year ... 11 of the 16 players on the Terriers roster have scored 10+ points in a game this season.
NC State vs. Boston University Series        Â
This is the third-ever meeting between the Wolfpack and the Terriers ... NC State has won both previous meetings ... The last meeting was 1/9/96, which the Wolfpack won, 78-68 ... NC State is 21-3 all-time against teams from the Patriot League.
Balanced Scoring Attack      Â
NC State had five players reach double figures in scoring in its two opening games this season. Last season in 33 games, NC State only had three games where five players reached double figures in scoring. The Pack has had four different players lead the team in scoring this season: Terry Henderson vs. Georgia Southern and Creighton, Torin Dorn vs. St. Francis and Illinois, Abdul-Malik Abu vs. Montana and Dennis Smith, Jr., vs. Saint Joseph's and Loyola (Chicago). Through seven games this season, the Pack has six players averaging in double figures.
Getting Their First Run with the Pack      Â
Counting Terry Henderson (who only played the first six minutes of the season last year before being injured and lost for the year), 74.1% of the minutes (1037 of 1400 minutes) played for NC State this season have been by players that did not play for the Wolfpack last season. NC State will eventually add another newcomer to its lineup when five-star recruit Omer Yurtseven becomes eligible to play.
Shooting Star      Â
Sophomore guard Torin Dorn shot 50.5% from the field as a freshman at UNC-Charlotte in 2014-15 en route to being named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year.
Through seven games this season, Dorn is 48-of-75 (64%) from the field. He is 35-of-52 (67.3%) on two-pointers and 13-of-23 (56.5%) on three-pointers. Dorn did not miss a two-point field goal attempt in the Nov. 13 game against St. Francis. He was 8-of-8 in the game on two-pointers. He also hit his his first four field goals against Montana before missing a layup late in the first half to snap his streak of 13 consecutive 2-point field goals made.
Freshmen Running the Show      Â
Freshman point guards Dennis Smith, Jr., and Markell Johnson run the show for the Wolfpack this season. The two players combined have 56 assists and just 24 turnovers in 422 minutes of action this season. The two combine to average just 1 turnover every 17.6 minutes. Johnson (20 assists/7 turnovers) has a 2.86 assist-to-turnover ratio, while Smith (36 assists/17 turnovers) has a 2.12 assist-to-turnover ratio. Through seven games, NC State is averaging 81.7 points per game and shooting 50.5% from the field. The two freshmen also rank 1st (Johnson -11) and 2nd (Smith - 10) on the team in steals.
Mr. Double-Double      Â
Junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu has two double-doubles this season and now has 18 for his career. The 18 double-doubles are the most of any current player in the ACC. Abu had two double-doubles as a freshman and 14 last season as a sophomore.
